A significant A320 Family fleet upgrade agreement for Air Canada

MRO Americas, Chicago, 10 April 2024 - Airbus has signed an agreement with Canada's largest airline, Air Canada, for a major cockpit and avionics system upgrade package for their A320 Family in-service aircraft. The multi-year upgrade programme includes Enhanced Electronic Instrument System (EEIS2), Head Up Display (HUD) and many other avionics functions. It will be installed on up to 76 aircraft. 

“These key enhancements to the avionics on our Airbus A320 family will result in a modernized flight deck environment consistent with our other fleets, as well as additional capabilities comparable to the latest generation of aircraft, such as the A321XLR that Air Canada will be introducing to its fleet. HUDs on the A320 family will further increase fleet harmonization across all our aircraft types, and the EEIS2 displays presenting enhanced data will bring additional operational efficiencies and reliability,” said Murray Strom, Senior Vice President, Flight Operations and Maintenance at Air Canada. 

‘’With this combination of improvements, Air Canada is getting ahead of the requirements and latest standards available on the market”, says Cristina Aguilar, SVP Customer Services at Airbus. ‘’We are thankful to Air Canada for their trust in Airbus with this significant A320 fleet upgrades agreement.”

On the photo, from left to right: Joshua Vanderveen, VP-Maintenance, Air Canada and Christine Aguilar, Head of Customer Services for Airbus. 

HUD will improve situational awareness, and bring better airport accessibility in the event of bad weather conditions. EEIS2 displays offer much higher reliability, and enable  the very latest function displays. The pilot comfort with EEIS2 is significantly improved with better information display thanks to its high resolution LCD screen and offers new system capabilities and features. SBAS Landing System (SLS), FMS Landing System (FLS) and GBAS Landing System (GLS) will also contribute to a faster and greater airport accessibility. 

In addition to these new system capabilities, the upgrade programme will maximize fleet commonality with newer aircraft and enable cost rationalization for maintenance, spares and flight operations.

The EEIS2, HUD and all these avionics equipment are built by Thales (among other suppliers) and integrated by Airbus, which will provide the necessary service bulletins and installation kits as well as on-site engineering support.